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surgery. is this about the money? a major new york city fund-raiser for democratic senator called off after mayor michael bloomberg sent a letter urging rich donors to pull support for democrats who voted against gun control. more on those stories in a moment. first, "news nation" is following breaking news. the fbi says two new york state men are now under arrest accused of planning to fight against "enemies of israel." nbc news justice correspondent pete williams joins us. this is an odd story. you have details for us. >> yes, indeed, it is on odd story. we should point out that the fbi says these men never posed any danger because they never got the support they thought they were getting. all of the people who they met with who agreed to help them turned out to be either informants or undercover agents. but according to the fbi, two men from new york state glendon scott crawford, 49 years old of gallway, new york and eric

fight, 54 years old from hudson, new york, were charged with c s conspireing to provide support to terrorists. they wanted a mobile x-ray gun they could go around and shoot at people who they considered enemies of israel according to the fbi the men frequently mentioned muslims. the goal was to bombard these people with x-rays. nobody would realize it was happening at the moment and later it would cause medical problems was their hope. according to agents, some of the men traveled around trying to find support. they met with people in the south they thought were representing the ku klux klan but as i say they were all undercover operatives and never got materials they needed. they thought they were developing this device but the fbi says it was harmless. >> thank you for those details. "news nation" is following president obama's call to reduce the world's nuclear stockpiles during a dramatic speech in front of a powerful symbol of the cold war.

the president and the first lady are attending a state dinner hosted by german chancellor angela merkel. the president's speech came one week shy of the 50-year anniversary of president john f. kennedy's famous speech where he denounced communism and declared i'm a berliner. >> echos through the ages but that's not all that he said that day. let's remember is the challenge he issued to the crowd before him. let me ask you, he said, to those berliners, let me ask you to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today. after a comprehensive review, i determined that we can ensure the security of america and our allies and maintain a strong and credible strategic deterrent while reducing our deployed strategic nuclear weapons by up to one-third.

i intend to seek negotiated cuts with russia to move beyond cold war nuclear postures. >> nbc news chief white house correspondent and political director chuck todd is traveling with the president. chuck is with us now. thanks for joining us. in addition to focus of nuclear stockpiles, the president at a news conference prior to that speech took questions regarding syria, gitmo and this ongoing controversy regarding nsa. >> reporter: he did. what was interesting is the most poignant questions were from german reporters and the issue of nsa in particular has become a bit of a political hot potato for merkel herself. they let it be known publicly that she has told the president that what the u.s. does, she's concerned about some of the tactics and wants to learn more and make sure german citizens aren't having their privacy

invaded. germans are more sensitive to this particularly you see this for obvious reasons. their recent history east german communism government big into surveillance and nazi regime back into surveillance. this is something that germans are particularly nervous about. so the president had to be defensive on that. you bring up the nuclear issue. it's worth noting russians that putin already responded to this call for negotiated reductions as the clip you played there that the president talked about. and in very diplomatic speak what putin basically said was he's not ready to sit down. they just negotiated a big reduction and that was part of that new start agreement signed a couple years ago that president obama and then russian president medvedev agreed to. it's always been an issue for

the russian government. what the president outlined, bold and aggressive. long way to go from an aspirational idea to actually getting it done as russians aren't interested in starting talks. >> also, chuck, this was a hot topic on "morning joe" this morning, the economy so much of this was supposed to be especially the g-8 focused on that and we saw transition with the developments regarding nsa. when we look back at when the president visited germany before he was elected and even just the climate of the austerity measures in europe versus the actions that he promoted here in the united states and the face of both of these economies now, lends itself to an interesting discussion over what should be done to repair economies. >> reporter: you know, i look at this -- i want to look at this through the prism of obama/merkel relationship. they have become close. it was the financial crisis that brought them together. each was trying to pull the

other to their direction. merkel was trying to pull the united states a little more austerity. president obama was trying to pull germany into saying you have to bailout all of europe. don't put such harsh crit era on what you're trying to do at the time during the great bailout. things like that. and they did sort of end up meeting in the middle and they're comfortable with that. you see -- this exchange of state dinners is no accident. this is sort of almost personal thank yous. president obama personally thanking awarding her a high honor in the united states and getting that medal of freedom she got in the united states giving her a state dinner and a thank you for being a partner on that. and then in return, merkel has her own re-election coming up this year. president obama is personally popular here. she's giving a big thank you in

germany. mr. di >> forget the fact that dirk is a dallas maverick. thank you very much. >> you're a dallas girl. i know. >> you're brilliant. politics and sports all wrapped up in one. thanks, chuck todd. today in washington there are new questions if comprehensive immigration reform is in serious trouble. right now several house republicans including congressman steve king are holding what they are calling the all-day news conferences on immigration. here is congressman randy weber of texas with a peek at what they're talking about. >> mr. president, build up this wall. >> obviously a play on the fact the president gave his speech before the brandenburg gate today but despite verbal back and forth, there's good news

from the independent congressional office. it found the bill would reduce the deficit by $197 billion over the next ten years and cut 7$70 billion over the next 20 years. house speaker john boehner plans to meet with members of the house hispanic caucus. while immigration was not on the original agenda, aides say it is likely to come up during the discussions. you can bet it will. let's bring in "news nation" political panel. let me start off with you, ann. we have this all day news conference. a number of people there. we pointed out randy weber's play on building up this wall. they say this is about border security. is that truly at the heart of what's going on here? >> certainly border security is a concern that opponents of illegal immigration reform have raised in the past. it's a concern that many

conservatives and certainly even some democrats have raised before. it's only one of many components. i think the cbo report that you mentioned is an interesting development because a lot of critics have said that it could cost more money when you talk about defense -- >> conservatives have said once you have immigrants and they start to use medicare and social security that it would be a flood gate. >> right. of course what cbo report discusses is the fact that they would be legal taxpayers. you add that many taxpayers over that much time and the population swells and you have more people paying taxes and that's what you see reducing the deficit. i think every day with all eyes trained on this especially now with the debate moving forward and congress, any new piece of information that comes out like this has the potential to move the needle. >> interesting. i'm going to read this from my iphone. it says that marco rubio and other lawmakers working on the bill were booed when their names were brought up at this rally. one person, senior researcher

for the haeritage foundation sad marco rubio has not read his own bill and the crowd booed the name of marco rubio. he was supposed to be the face that would bring in these conservatives. the gentle voice that would urge them over to agree to comprehensive immigration reform. where do you think things realistically stand right now? >> i think realistically first of all i do not doubt that marco rubio has read this whole bill. they went through months of negotiations. >> he's part of the bill. >> he's truly part of it. we can set that aside. i do think that conservatives are behind this. this rally that they're holding today is all about the narrow base. a small minority that no matter what they say about border security, what they are opposed to is the path to citizenship and that congressional budget office report, that is very interesting because on the broader level what it does, it takes away to a large extent the economic case against reform.

and for people who support reform, it's sort of right now you're in a trifecta period because we had that report and from harvard middle school saying that immigrants add more saying immigrants contribute -- undocumented immigrants contribute about 10 billion to the surplus. without that economic argument and border security being debated, what are the grounds to be against reform? harder for them to make the case. >> here you have a political headline. gop support on immigration dissipating. you have "the new york times" headline senator tries to run out clock on immigration. they are referring to senator jeff sessions. he said, "the longer it lays in the sun the more it smells as they say about mac candidateker"

that was in 2007 when he waged a war and beat back immigration reform being push by a republican president, george w. bush. that same tactic in 2007 is being brought around this time. >> it's harder. jeff sessions represents that core of people who they will never be for immigration reform. he wasn't before. >> aren't they strong enough to hold it up? >> last time he -- he won last time. he helped derail immigration reform. this time the calculus is different. they are raising a ruckus and we have a foclk vocal minority. right now depends on the speaker going forward. >> do you see caution optimism amongst republicans who would like to see immigration reform? do they believe it's going to get done? >> i think that's the right assessment. i do think it's also correct that it's up to the speaker and

if it will require a majority of the majority in the house can those votes actually get there? that's a really tough one. so whether he holds firm to that or tries to build a coalition or allows a coalition to be built i should say between democrats and willing republicans, that is the key question here. >> he's already been told by at least one republican you will lose your job if he brings immigration reform to the floor without the sfupport of the gop. we'll see what side he takes in this. thank you both for your time. appreciate it. reaction to the american medical association's decision to classify obesity as a disease. some say it opens up more options for treatment and prevention. others argue it removes the element of personal responsibility. we'll talk with a doctor who specializes in obesity surgery and it is our gut check so stick around for it. plus, serena williams is now apologizing and says she's reaching out to the family of the steubenville, ohio, rape victim after reportedly telling

"rolling stone" magazine the 16 year old "shouldn't have put herself in that position" and whier iy er is why serena is implying she may have been misquoted and former investigators of the 1996 twa 800 crash near long island are in a new documentary refuting what the government says caused that plane to explode killing 230 people. what they say happened. we'll talk a former investigator calling for this case to be reexamined. join our conversation on twitter.

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a controversial nation from

the nation's largest group of doctors could change how doctors treat patients. they are classifying obesity as disease. one-third of americans are obese and that's on top of one-third that are overweight. this opens the door to range of medical treatments. obesity causes a laundry list of health issues. type 2 diabetes. breast and colon cancer. hypertext and stroke. they do not have an official say in the matter but they carry clo clout. joining me now is vice chair of surgery at lennox hill hospital here in new york. thank you, doctor, for joining me. i have to ask you off the top. ama house of delegates rejected cautionary advice from their own experts that said obesity should not be designated as a disease

because how we define obesity is based on body mass index and that calculation is seen as flawed meaning someone can be obese or overweight but not have health issues we laid out there. >> it's a difficult decision to make. i think they voted correctly. they recognize the implications of obesity at a societal level and technical argument of what bmi cutoff justifies obesitobes the reality is we recognize obesity is a disease. for ama to come out and make that position clear was a very important statement. >> as i mentioned, you're the vice chair of surgery. you have people that say this is about reimbursements and the fact that many people cannot afford these surgeries but if you can go to your insurance company and get it paid for that doctors make more money. medical companies, according to "the new york times," a drug that did not sell well is an

obesity drug. part of the reason it didn't sell well is poor reimbursement. as a result more money if you can get this designated disease and insurance companies cover it. what do you say to those skeptical people? >> there's no question that considering it a disease helps us to get it paid for but it's not about physicians or hospitals or pharmacies getting paid. it's about recognizing that obesity is a disease and we need to now address it at a societal level. >> the definition of disease if this is correct. there's not even an agreed upon definition for what constitutes a disease. >> that's true. that's part of the challenge. now, having said that, under the international classification of diseases, obesity does have a designation. ama coming out saying we recognize it's a disease is one more step. it's not the first step.

cms already recognized obesity is a disease and medicare and medicaid do pay for obesity related treatments. whether that's medical therapy or surgical therapy. >> are you at all worried that you will have situations where not yourself as a doctor but others will now say have surgery or here's a pill as opposed to what some see as personal responsibility even though we know that there are addictions with food and difficulties and we have to question what's even in our food these days. it seems as if the odds are stacked against you to lose the weight but is the st. louolutio pill or surgery? >> it's recognition that obesity is a complex problem. it isn't as simple as just what your weight is. we have to recognize that at a certain threshold the problem goes beyond this "personal responsibility." there is a change that happens in people when they reach a certain weight. you don't know anyone that's

morbidly obese that wants to stay that way. if it was as simple as personal responsibility, we wouldn't have this problem. it's a complex problem. we need to look at it both from a medical perspective as well as a public health perspective. what this does is opens the door to that larger conversation of how do we address the public health issues around obesity. to your point, what's in the food that we eat? how much food do we eat? caloric density of it and the appropriate treatments when you actually acquire a disease. sometimes that's medication. sometimes that's behavioral modification. sometimes that's surgery. >> it's a larger conversation. thank you very much. we really appreciate you joining us. this is part of our gut check. stick around for that. still ahead, george zimmerman now directly facing the jurors who will decide whether he is guilty or innocent and for the first time, zimmerman's parents are in court. we'll get a live report out of sanford.

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welcome back. tennis star serena williams is apologizing today after controversial remarks she made about the victim of the steubenville, ohio, rape case. williams was giving an interview to "rolling stone" when the news story about the two high school students convicted of raping a classmate flashed on a television. williams told the magazine when she was asked do you think it was fair what she got? "they did something stupid but i don't know. i'm not blaming the girl but if you're a 16 year old and you're drunk like that, your parents should teach you not to take drinks from other people." serena williams said "what happened in steubenville was a real shock for me. i was deeply sand.

for one to be raped at only 16 is such a horrible tragedy." serena said she was sorry about comments supposedly made by her implying it isn't what she said. >> i think for serena who i interviewed a number of times and she's very smart and sort of generous in her conversations, and i think what was lost in the translation was the reason behind what she said. i think if you look at the way serena was raised in compton as an african-american women, many times we're taught when bad things happen to us, no one cares and no one is going to help. it's in your best interest. you have to keep your wits about you. i think in many ways that's what serena was trying to say and felt that the reporter did not probe enough or go deep enough to understand what was behind what she had to say. i think that's sort of her frustration and her anger. mine as well when i read it. having interviewed her so many different times, i know that she's a much more compassionate person than that. there was more than to that

statement than met the eye. >> she went onto say in the initial interview in "rolling stone" interview, i don't know maybe she was a virgin but she shouldn't have put herself in that position unless they slipped her something then that's different. that's again part of what "rolling stone" quoted her as saying. in her new statement she says what i supposedly said. >> right. i mean, i think that speaks again to her sort of saying i don't blame the victim and i'm not sure if they slipped her something. i think she was also admitting i don't know every aspect and detail of this case. i think you have to go back again. she had a sister killed a few years ago. that makes life black and white many times for people. they don't see the gray area. growing up in compton where bad things happen to people every day, you become hard and sort of cold to the realities of the world. it becomes you have to take care of yourself and you have no other choice but to take care of yourself. i would have like to have had that context in your story and i think that was lost and a big

mistake not to put it in that context. >> we'll see if she says anymore about it. thank you. i appreciate you coming on having interviewed venus and serena many times. for the first time since his murder trial began, george zimmerman's parents were in court in sanford. this morning they watched as judge nelson read the charges against zimmerman before round two of jury selection got under way. in another first, the courtroom has been reconfigured so that george zimmerman now directly faces the pool of 40 perspective jurors as they are questioned by attorneys. six jurors will eventually be picked and sequestered. zimmerman pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of 17-year-old trayvon martin last year. he claims self-defense. martin was unarmed. nbc's ron mott is outside of the courthouse. george zimmerman's parents are in court for the first time after the e-book published by his father. >> reporter: his sister is also here today. good day to you. it's the first time that george zimmerman is coming face to face

in close proximity to the people who may judge his fate in a few weeks. he's sitting a few feet from the front row. all 40 of the jurors have been called to the courtroom and the defense has been waiting for their turn. we don't know if they'll get updated to question these jurors. so far today it's been the state. in terms of questions that are being asked at this point personal things about marital status, do you have children, but now he's digging into folks who have been victims of crimes and by my count, about a third of this panel of 40 raised their hands to say they had been victims of crime. i can't hear what's going on right now but obviously he's going to want to know what that experience was like for them and whether going forward if they get on this jury whether they can still remain a fair and impartial panelist on this jury. in terms of the schedule, we don't know exactly how long the defense is going to take in this process. some of our information is that they won't take as long as the prosecution is going forward so perhaps we may have a panel before the weekend and sometime

next week it seems that we might have opening statements. >> thank you very much. it is moving along. a new wave of protests in brazil as the country gears up to host the soccer world cup and the olympics. one protester is quoted as saying they are building stadiums and we need food. we'll get a live report. plus, a big new york city fund-raiser for a senator is canceled reportedly after mayor bloombe bloomberg urged democrats to pull support for those who didn't support gun control.

fresh reaction to a far reaching abortion bill passed by house republicans. the bill would ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. the white house has promised to veto the bill should it by any chance make it to the

president's desk. >> they're back in full force with an even more extreme anti-woman, anti-choice agenda. >> joining me now live, nbc news senior political editor mark murray. what are the other aftershocks from that vote last night? >> we saw how both sides who support abortion rights and those who oppose abortion used it for fund-raising. i think you look at the politically -- this is a way for conservative republicans to please their base to take a vote actually to show that they are tough when it comes to the issue of abortion and how much they actually oppose it. and we've actually seen that organizations that do support abortion rights were fund-raising off of it. you saw just right there you had senators patty murray and senator barbara boxer getting

their side up in arms about it. the question is whether this becomes an issue we had in the 2014 mid terms. it's doubtful that this is something that would fire up both sides. however, i do think it has bigger repercussions for presidential contests like we saw in 2012. >> all right, mark. thank you very much. we'll see you tomorrow. writing in politico today to continue this conversation, the author of the house bill is part of what they call "the gop's clueless caucus." they write, "there's almost a backbencher in the house of representatives or a c-list player out in the states who's too eager to take the wind out of a conservative comeback with some incendiary comment that seizes national attention." the party has found itself stymied over and over by what leaders describe as a tiny rump

of ham fisted polls whose knack of stumbling on cable news. for example, live pictures from capitol hill where you have some members of the house who held this all-day news conference opposing immigration reform. their goal which i'm doing right now is to show on the 24-hour cable news cycle to get attention for their cause. >> and mission accomplished on that front, tamron. the point is not to pick on trent franks or anybody else but to convey a sense of frustration among republican elites and republican strategists that the party has been trying to do a number of substantive things since the election to adjust to the drubbing they got with groups like latinos women, young people and they find that whatever substantive steps they try to take and they are baby steps at this point, it's hard to do that when the public face of the party is so often someone

like michele bachmann. >> i don't think people see this as picking on the gop because in your piece you quote the former deputy executor who says the good work of so many republican conservatives and moderates alike is being nullified by the ignorance and ego of a very few. that's a republican. that's not a democrat. that's not media. that's republican. i want to point out what texas congressman michael burgess said in the midst of this debate over this controversial bill over abortion. what he said about babies and of all things masturbation. listen to what he said. >> you watch a sonogram at a 15-week baby and they have movements that are purposeful. they stroke their face. this mare a male baby they may have their hand between their legs. they feel pleasure. why is it so hard to think they could feel pain? >> the media didn't put that in his mind or mouth. he said that.

the democrats didn't do that. these are seemingly self-inflicted wounds if they are in fact wounds. >> sure. i think that even for folks who are sympathetic to the overall cause of limiting the number of abortions and restricting when in a pregnancy abortions are legal, comments like those are not helpful to the cause and certainly not helpful to the broader cause of making the republican party palatable to a broader coalition of americans. >> people should check out the article you put up. it's very interesting. right now a new wave of p protests sweeping through brazil's largest city as pressure increases on political leaders. last night thousands poured into the streets in dozens of cities across the country. protesters began over bus fare hikes but this mushroomed into anger over government spending. brazil spent tens of billions on new stadiums for next year's world cup and the summer games in 2016. as one 83-year-old protester was quoted in "the new york times" as saying, people are going

hungry and the government builds stadiums. "the new york times" brazil bureau chief is live. it was in your piece that incredible quote from that protester was there. what is the tone today? >> you know, the tone today on the streets in brazilian cities is still one of indignation and shock for brazil's political leaders. you have big protests unfolding in sao paulo. protests taking place in other cities. one big protest outside of a stadium where brazil is slated to play mexico in a big soccer match. there's a lot of anger today. >> it's interesting in your piece there was a person quoting saying they're building statements when we need schools and you point out that these protests are coming at a time when brazil's long heralded economic boom may be coming to an end. >> that's right. growth has slowed considerably

from the boom years. inflation is high. we've seen a sharp fall in the value of the currency against the dollar. and people are starting to feel this in their pockets of course. in a bigger sense though this is about problems that have been festering in brazil for years. a lot of anger about political corruption and it's really manifested itself in rage about the lavish stadium projects built ahead of the world cup next year and ahead of the olympics held in rio in 2016. >> you point out unlike in turkey where protesters were dismissed by the government, it seems as if the country's president wants to communicate and listen to these voices. >> that's right. you know, the president has said that she's actually supportive of the protests. she said yesterday after a big wave of protests that brazil awoke stronger than it did the previous day. that stands in sharp contrast to what happened in turkey.

and she's not the only politician saying that. you have people across the ideological spectrum now trying to throw their support behind these protests and really trying to understand them because they're a new phenomenon in brazil. one political analyst described them to me as people who are just trying to figure out what they mean. >> all right. thank you very much for your live report. we'll continue to keep up with the developments there. thank you. former investigators of twa flight 800 that exploded back in 1986 are featured in a new documentary refuting what the government says really brought down that plane. we'll talk with one of the former investigators calling for the case to be reexamined. there's a lot going on. here are things we thought you should know. a fund-raiser scheduled for next monday has been canceled. one of four democratic senators targeted by mayor michael

bloomberg's gun control vote after they voted no to expand background checks. vice president joe biden joined leaders to dedicate a statue at the u.s. capitol to honor frederick douglass. >> instead of condemning the nation that made him a slave, he embraced the stated principles and used them as a sword to try to free others. arguably no one who fought harder for citizenship and full equality than frederick douglass. [ female announcer ] the best thing about this bar it's not a candy bar. 130 calories 7 grams of protein the new fiber one caramel nut protein bar.

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just minutes after leaving new york city for paris. all 230 people onboard died. the crash set off dual criminal investigations one by the cia and the other by the fbi. witnesses had reported seeing a streak the light before the explosion but a final ntsb conclusion found a short circuit in the center fuel tank ignited that explosion. now the retired investigators now say those findings were falsified. they even filed a petition with the ntsb calling for a new probe into the case. the ntsb said today it would review any petition it receives but the agency also said "while the ntsb rarely reinvestigates issues that have already been examined, our investigators are never closed and we can review any new information not previously considered by the board." joining me now, hank hughes former senior accident

investigators with ntsb and one of the people featured in the documentary making the claims. i know according to the press release and information out there, this documentary has solid proof there was an external detonation. why hold this information to reveal in a documentary? why not reveal it now? >> well, i think an interesting aspect of your opening remarks might be addressed first. you talked about two criminal investigations. at the time it occurred, it should have been civil aviation accident investigation. the question of why would they believe it was a criminal act, for the first several days they kept saying it was a missile. with regard to the examination, we violated our own protocols that have been well established. parties to the investigation were excluded from information

they had a right to. all sorts of strange things occurred. the witnesses, for instance, were significant aspect of what was done wrong. when you have 577 people who generally describe the same thing, very few of whom know each other but say the same thing about what happened and you completely discount it to a point where you have to have the cia put together a cartoon that is basically psychological propaganda that says, you know, conspiracy theory not a missile about 18 times, there are problems. many of us voiced our concern and it fell on deaf ears. >> investigators say they spent an enormous amount of time reviewing, documenting, analyzing facts and data and held a five-day public hearing to gather additional facts before determining the probable cause of the accident. i know that you and the other investigators say you were not allowed to speak publicly and

you're doing so now that you've retired. it goes back to my question if you believe this was something other than a mechanical situation, why wait until the 17th of july, which i believe is the date that this show airs and not come out publicly and say right now more than 200 people lost their lives why wait for a special. tell us now. >> i don't have any control on when the documentary is aired. >> you know the information in it, right? >> of course. of course. we're more than glad to share that. as questions are asked, i'll answer it. we believe that it is entirely probable and in fact we believe that it occurred that a missile or missiles i should say caused destruction of twa flight 800 and that's based on witness statements and we have some incredible witnesses that weren't even properly interviewed who provided testimony and are included in

the documentary film. we have physical evidence that was overlooked. we have reports, chemical reports from the fbi and nasa. we have radar data that was corrected and analyzed by the team. >> all of of this will be revealed in this special, right? >> absolutely. it's also provided in the petition for reconsideration. we want to share everything we have with the ntsb. that was my home for probably 26 years. i think the world of the people there and the mission. i loved it for years. >> we will be watching with an open mind. we'll watch the documentary to see what is revealed. it's july 17th. hank, thank you for your time. we'll see what is uncovered there. up next, nati"news nation" gut check. julie! hey...guess what day it is?? ah come on, i know you can hear me. mike mike mike mike mike... what day is it mike?

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time now for "news nation" gut check. with us the great michael. we've been talking about the ama

saying that obesity is a disease. i know you have strong opinion about this. what's your take? >> my take is that it probably will make it easier for physicians who give a full workup to the obese patient to be reimbursed by insurance companies so i think that money drives it. that doesn't necessarily make it a bad thing. i think physicians who invest the time with heavy patients need to be reimbursed by insurance companies but that's my suspicion as to what's driving this. >> you heard people say the money is in the disease and not the cure. people have weight loss surgery and many times they end up still batting the issue because of what's in our food and other issues or they think it's a magic pill that can change. you're right. if there's a great doctor who takes the time out, that's one thing. unfortunately we live in a world where not all doctors put the patients first. >> i had a conversation this morning on the radio about this where any number of patients said that they are obese and that physicians hadn't discussed their weight with them.

in other words, there's a feeling out there that for whatever reason practitioners don't directly address this subject. maybe if there's a financial reward in treating it they will feel differently about it. >> yes or no? disease obesity? >> yeah. yes. disease. it rings the alarm on the single greatest driver of our health care costs and so for that reason alone, i hope it's a wake-up call. >> all right. you can check out michael on sirius xm and talk to him and maybe get a call in to chat with michael live. thanks a lot, buddy. we'll see you tomorrow. i'll be calling. what does your gut tell you? do you agree with ama's decision to classify obesity as a disease? what do you say? that does it for us on "news nation." i'm an accountant. a mechanical engineer. and i shop at walmart. truth is, over sixty percent of america shops at walmart every month.

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